Research themes

Departments and Institutes

Research Interests

Vascular smooth muscle cell development and disease

My group studies vascular development and vascular diseases such as aortic aneurysms and atherosclerosis. We have established new methods for generating human vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) that originate from specific embryonic lineages, using directed differentiation of human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (hESC & hiPSC).

Most recently, we have established an in vitro model for generating ESC-derived epicardium which we then use to generate ‘coronary’-like SMCs. We use these and other systems to study the molecular mechanisms that regulate vascular development. Using patient-derived iPSCs we also model genetic vascular diseases in which smooth muscle cells (SMC) are implicated, e.g. Marfan syndrome (FBN1).

My group is also investigating whether human pluripotent stem cell-derived cells may be used to regenerate the damaged heart, either by direct injection or by generating a vascularised next-generation tissue ‘patch’. In particular we are interested in the role of the epicardium in regulating this regenerative response.